Dear Walmart, Give your Workers Something to be Thankful for.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Walmart workers across the country are planning a nation-wide strike on Black Friday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year. If you are wondering why, ask the Walmart contracted warehouse worker who toils in back-breaking conditions just to have their wages stolen, and then faces retaliation for speaking out, or the Walmart Associate who works full-time, but still has to collect welfare because Walmart’s wages are so low.

What Walmart doesn’t understand is that none of these strikes, protests, and walkouts would even occur if they would just treat their workers with respect. In a time when the Walton family owns more wealth than the bottom 40% of Americans combined, we think they can afford to give workers a decent wage with benefits, instead of squeezing them for everything they can.

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The great American middle class wasn’t something that just happened – it was built brick by brick. It was built by soldiers returning from war and a government that repaid them by giving them a shot at college.

What the wealthy and well-connected figured out is that they have strength in numbers: the numbers of dollars they contribute to politicians. It’s time working and middle class Americans use our strength in numbers to reclaim the American Dream. We need a counterweight to the power of big money – and that’s the power of big numbers, the power of ordinary people who work for a living demanding to have our voices heard – from the workplace to Washington.